Android Users Can Finally Get Some ‘Face Time’-But Only With Each Other

For Android users who have developed an inferiority complex watching their iPhone-wielding comrades indulging in the joys of video chatting-your time has come. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) will be rolling out a video-chat system on Android tablets and phones.

Android users will be able to video-chat with one another, as well as with friends using Google Talk on their desktops.

Nexus S devices will be getting the feature first, as it gets rolled out to them “in the next few weeks” as part of an over-the-air update. Google says it will launch on other Android 2.3 devices in the future, but doesn’t provide a date. Once you get the feature, you can use it any time you have access to a 3G or 4G network, or a WiFi signal.

Having a video chat system has become de rigueur for cell phones in the time since Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) launched iPhone 4 with its FaceTime (NYSE: TWX) feature, although it isn’t clear how big the market opportunity for these features are. One main obstacle is the lack of interoperability, which doesn’t seem to be getting any better with this product launch. When Apple first showed off FaceTime last year, it promised it would make the system an open standard-but so far, that hasn’t come to pass. Even if we get to a point where Android and iOS users want to be video-chatting up a storm, they won’t be able to reach across the device divide.